The petition
This is a petition in favour of Online Video Censorship
This is an example of a growing trend of online videos that promote the use of violence and wilfully anaesthetize our moral response to it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
(CAUTION Contains violence)
We see that the proliferation of such videos can only encourage the "happy slapping" generation to move on from an already pervasive culture of violent films and video games to sharing the outcome online of something far more sinister. Simply allowing this content online acts as an incentive and affords a perceived level of legitimacy to the act for those who watch it. How long do we have to wait until the more impressionable members of our communities unwittingly trespass a criminal threshold for the sake of 'net ratings'?
Tim Berners-Lee hailed as the creator of the web is not in favour of any kind of censorship. "Illegal material - child pornography, 'video nasties' - should remain illegal, but he insists 'the world is a diverse place and we should trust people, not try to police them... There are many cultures and they are continually changing" But do we honestly live in such a trustworthy and free world?" Liberal Democrat health spokesman Sandra Gidley said she was 'alarmed' by the material available and particularly how easy it is for children to be exposed to it. The MP added: 'I'm concerned that the boundaries are being pushed on what is acceptable."
It is not an unprecedented move. Schools across the country have banned pupils from accessing www.bebo.com, a popular social networking website because it is rife with bullying, libellous remarks, drug references and pornography. Teachers were also concerned that the site could help paedophiles to identify and contact potential victims. We do not advocate censorship as a political choice, but faced with the spread of corrupting images, putting our communities at risk, a rapid and efficient response is required.
We will send this petition to the companies, in the hope to encourage them to moderate their content more strictly.
Youtube (www.youtube.com)
Google Video (video.google.com)
Dailymotion (www.dailymotion.com)
IFilm (www.ifilm.com)
Yahoo Video (video.yahoo.com)
Myspace Video (vids.myspace.com)
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